Hi guys,

My 94 Magna just died on me yesterday in the carpark in Perth City.... Started the engine as normal... suddenly, the engine stalled... after that, the engine never starts. There is power, but just can't start engine...

Have to get RAC to help me find out the problem... The guy said that its electrical problems... Either the ECU or another gadget which disables sparks, so engine can't start... In the end have to arrange for a tow truck to tow it back home....

Anyone faced with this kind of electrical problem before? Imagine if I were in the freeway at 100km/h.. and the engine just stalled!!!!! That's the end of me and my car!! :shock:


Thanks




Jes79

Hi guys,

My 94 Magna just died on me yesterday in the carpark in Perth City.... Started the engine as normal... suddenly, the engine stalled... after that, the engine never starts. There is power, but just can't start engine...

Have to get RAC to help me find out the problem... The guy said that its electrical problems... Either the ECU or another gadget which disables sparks, so engine can't start... In the end have to arrange for a tow truck to tow it back home....

Anyone faced with this kind of electrical problem before? Imagine if I were in the freeway at 100km/h.. and the engine just stalled!!!!! That's the end of me and my car!! :shock:
Thanks
Jes79

lack of spark could be a few things.....Distributor, Coil, Sparkplugs, leads...or as mentioned before ECU.

And if u were on the freeway and it happened.....your car would just lose power and come to a gradual stop. Your car and you would still be here :P

Haha... yeah.... You've got a point... haha...

Yeah hows this, driving the TR magna around without any signs or problems, then all of a sudden had the car booked in at mitsubishi for a tune up - that very morning at 7AM ish get up to start the car, car cuts out up the road, start it again, drives for a bit then cuts out, again, again, (could hear a clicking noise from under glovebox) then it makes it to mitsubishi without any problems - very odd, the guy tells me next day that i was lucky to make it to them

Problems were: Engine Control Relay Faulty (fuel pump)
Engine Ecu Blown

These were fixed now runs fine.

That was one freaky day!

Same thing happened to me. Slightly more embarassing senario though, i was halfway through Maccas drive through wen there was a puff of smoke in the cab and she just died. I hadnt even gotten to the first window! :redface: The guy behind me and the manager came out to give me a push around into the car park. Luckily my bro is a diesel mechanic at kenworth trucks which was just down the road, i had to wait about an hour for him to knock off. Then he came up to see wot was happening, and said it was either the computer or the ignition coil. It was the ECU. Which u could pretty much tell because of the burnt electrical smell in the cabin. lol

Anyway new ECU was $750 fitted and everything :cry: nasty

Anyway new ECU was $750 fitted and everything :cry: nasty

Wow!!! $750 for the ECU... that really burns a big hole in the pocket..... :shock:

Same thing happened to me. Slightly more embarassing senario though, i was halfway through Maccas drive through wen there was a puff of smoke in the cab and she just died. I hadnt even gotten to the first window! :redface: The guy behind me and the manager came out to give me a push around into the car park. Luckily my bro is a diesel mechanic at kenworth trucks which was just down the road, i had to wait about an hour for him to knock off. Then he came up to see wot was happening, and said it was either the computer or the ignition coil. It was the ECU. Which u could pretty much tell because of the burnt electrical smell in the cabin. lol

Anyway new ECU was $750 fitted and everything :cry: nasty

Wow, was the mechanic on a hill as he seen you comming :bowrofl:

Go to bursons or somewhere similar, about 290 for a new ecu. Or get a car from a car yard, take it for a test drive, swap it over, tell em it stalled and it is free...only kidding...

This is a common way for the ecu to go, have seen it happen this way, the capacitor leaks and eventually it all stops.

Take the cover off and you will see a burnt section just above the centre of the board

I recently had the ecu problem as well, (burnt capacitor closest to plug) I replaced the ecu with a tested used unit and once it had power it was clicking madly, I started the car and it ran fine for about 5 mins but had a 1500rpm idle and then it suddenly died. It would crank and fire but wouldn't run. After a few minutes of trying to start it I suddenly see smoke rising as the replacement ecu also fried a capacitor but this time the other one(ign on, not cranking). If the ecu is clicking then quickly disconnect the battery, there is something else wrong that will fry the ecu.

Hi,

Sent the car for repair and the mechanic found out that it was the ignition coil and ignition plug.... cost me a total of $270 for everything....

Wonder if anymore of these is gonna happen.... only 140000km in a 94 TS and already so many problems.... :rant:

Do you have one of those touch key type immobilsers?

If so and the problem persists get it replaced.

I've seen heaps of these things fail. Cheap rubbish.

Do you have one of those touch key type immobilsers?

If so and the problem persists get it replaced.

I've seen heaps of these things fail. Cheap rubbish.

What's touch key type immobilisers?? Those remote control immobiliser? mine comes along with the locking... only 1 button on my remote control which unlocks the car and disables the immobiliser....

My 94 Magna just died on me yesterday in the carpark in Perth City.... Started the engine as normal... suddenly, the engine stalled... after that, the engine never starts. There is power, but just can't start engine...

Have to get RAC to help me find out the problem... The guy said that its electrical problems... Either the ECU or another gadget which disables sparks, so engine can't start... In the end have to arrange for a tow truck to tow it back home....

Anyone faced with this kind of electrical problem before?

Had same thing happen once, where it was running fine then
suddenly totally refused to restart.

RACV man sourced it down to a dirty connector for the
engine position sensor (multi-plug coming out of the dizzy).



Imagine if I were in the freeway at 100km/h.. and the engine just stalled!!!!! That's the end of me and my car!! :shock:

Why would that be? You won't just vaporise... :D

Stay calm and logical... dead engines means your power brakes & steering will
lose power assist but they'll still work - just need to muscle them harder.



The TN's gearbox konked on the fwy last mth... 100km/h, suddenly no drive in top.
Checked for surrounding cars before flickering & moving towards the emergency lane.
Whilst coasting (why brake when I don't have to? :) ), discovered that we could get
drive in 3rd... so had regained power to continue driving and limped home.

Have driven cars where brakes have failed (use gearbox & handbrake), even
one where a wheel came off... ok, that was pretty exciting. :redface: :shock:

The TN's gearbox konked on the fwy last mth... 100km/h, suddenly no drive in top.
Checked for surrounding cars before flickering & moving towards the emergency lane.
Whilst coasting (why brake when I don't have to? :) ), discovered that we could get
drive in 3rd... so had regained power to continue driving and limped home.

Have driven cars where brakes have failed (use gearbox & handbrake), even
one where a wheel came off... ok, that was pretty exciting. :redface: :shock:


Wow... Magnette... you seemed to be in a worse scenario than mine....!!!

I remembered someone said about 2nd Gen Magnas being money pit..... I wonder if its really so unreliable..... anyone has any positive feedbacks or negative feedbacks about their Magnas?? To me, at least they are more powerful than the Lancer.... though Lancer really has lots of market in modifying and body kits available easily.. much easier than Magnas....


Jes

A tuned magna will stand out more than a tuned lancer

magnas aren't too bad, no more of a money pit that other locally built cars. It's getting hard to find a decent second hand gen2 magna without paying a fortune for it. Form my experience at least their not like Commodores or Falcons where u keep wearing and replacing the same parts every 40'000km. With a Magna you usually only repalce a part once and get over 80'000km out of it, unless it wasn't fitted properly, there are some exceptions to this of course.
It can be an expensive excersise buying everything needed to restore a gen2 back into good condition. Once you do, then you will have a good reliable car.

Ooopps..... im a dick!! Just realised it wasnt my ecu that cost that much.. :redface: that $750 was for the last time i took it in which was to get a whole new timing chain kit put in. labour was most of it. I just looked for my invoice and the ecu was $250, sorry guys my bad. :stoopid:

magnas aren't too bad, no more of a money pit that other locally built cars. It's getting hard to find a decent second hand gen2 magna without paying a fortune for it. Form my experience at least their not like Commodores or Falcons where u keep wearing and replacing the same parts every 40'000km. With a Magna you usually only repalce a part once and get over 80'000km out of it, unless it wasn't fitted properly, there are some exceptions to this of course.
It can be an expensive excersise buying everything needed to restore a gen2 back into good condition. Once you do, then you will have a good reliable car.

Mmm... from what you've said, Benau, seems like you have quite a good impression with the reliability of Magnas... But, I do wonder.. In terms with other Japanese cars, like Toyota and Honda... Magnas in their 2nd gen series don't seem to be more reliable(as in the wearing out of parts, breaking down suddenly) than even older Toyotas... why???

Something I always wonder... I have a 1984 Toyota Corona wagon.. old car.. but less problem than my magna....so far.. hehe... :D

Funny thing is that I always check my magna weekly whenever I give it a good wash and wax.... while neglecting my poor wagon.... :nuts:

Well I find my old 2nd gen was pretty reliable. Really the biggest problem I had was alternator issues, but that was easily fixed by some new bushes. Oh and I had problems with idling at one stage too, but once again I tracked it to the ISC motor, which was easily fixed.

i bought my car 2 years ago with 255k km and i havnt spent any money on when somethings gone wrong except a new alternator, brakes and throttle body, which were probably just old and worn out anyway. now i'm hitting the 282k km mark and the engine is still going strong. Definately reliable!

Mmm.... anyone had faced with an auto problem, like it is not changing gears as smoothly when acceleration or slowing to a stop??

Used to encounter an auto problem with Hyundai Sonata... real nightmare.... especially when stopping, the whole car is like jerking to a stop, even though its a gradual stop...

I don't think manual cars will have such problems..since everything is manual... but auto, well.. old cars will bound to have some problems... like machine wear and tear.... electrical problems....

Well.... for me, I have decided to set aside a small amount every month... Just in case there is a need for maintenance... hehe... :pray:

And if u were on the freeway and it happened.....your car would just lose power and come to a gradual stop. Your car and you would still be here :P

lol i dont know why but that just cracked me up.

magnas aren't too bad, no more of a money pit that other locally built cars. It's getting hard to find a decent second hand gen2 magna without paying a fortune for it. Form my experience at least their not like Commodores or Falcons where u keep wearing and replacing the same parts every 40'000km. With a Magna you usually only repalce a part once and get over 80'000km out of it, unless it wasn't fitted properly, there are some exceptions to this of course.
It can be an expensive excersise buying everything needed to restore a gen2 back into good condition. Once you do, then you will have a good reliable car.
hmm. I'm not convinced. I reckon you get some that cost nothing to run and then you get a Monday morning or Friday arvo car that keep costing money. I'm keeping a list on computer for my TR V6 so I get a feel for it's just simply costing too much. Only 180,000k and squillions of fixes - most smallish but they all add up to 1,000s of $. If the Mitsus have the same problems then their new warranty will be a joke.

I'm convinced that my car has had all the known 6G72 issues plus a few.
This week I'll send it in for a service (rego due) so I'll see how much it hurts again.
Here's what needs a check:
- Check front bearings and/or cv's starting to get noisy
- Check ps fluid leaks at pump and rack - can't really afford a new pump but leaking at both spots
- Check o2 sensor hot reading - I'm not 100% convinced that it's right
- Check cat converter - possibly cactus
- Fix heat shield rattle - very annoying
- new seals for tappet cover to fix leak
- water pump
- timing belt
- check valve springs, tappet action - getting iffy
- check pcv valve and tubing for sludge, known issue for 6g72 engine
- Susp bushes
- rear brake check

I don't think it's right to have a list like this at 188,000. It's also had a large number of electrical issues in the last few years.